Vol. 18 No. 1
Evaluation of ber (Zizyphus mauritiana Lamk.) genotypes under Kymore Plateau Satpura Hill regions of Madhya Pradesh
Author(s): R. K. Rai, C.S. Pandey, S. K. Pandey and R. Pal
Abstract: This experiment was carried out to evaluate the performance of 20 genotypes of ber under Kymore Plateau and Satpura Hill regions of Madhya Pradesh during 2018-19. These genotypes were studied to observe the variability in respect to plant growth, fruiting, fruit quality and incidence of pest attack attributes. The tree height varied from 3.8m to 5.3m being the minimum in Jawaharber 4, where it was recorded maximum in Jawaharber 7. Among the 20 genotypes, growth habit was observed as 12 genotypes spreading and 8 genotypes was semi-spreading. Foliage color indicate 4 genotypes were found to have green, 6 genotypes light green and 10 genotypes were found to have dark green colour. The maximum fruit length (3.90 cm), fruit weight (24.63g) and fruit yield (76.5 kg plant-1) was recorded in Jawahar ber 12. The genotype Jawaharber 20 recorded highest TSS content (21.40brix), total sugar (12.2%) and acidity was recorded minimum in Jawaharber 8 (0.41).The incidence of fruit fly was noticed on 3 genotypes, infestation of gray hairy caterpillar was noticed on 4 genotypes. Powdery mildew was not found on 4 genotypes and remaining 16 genotypes were found to be affected. Cladosporium fruit rot was noticed on 3 genotypes only. Based on various desired horticultural traits like desirable fruit morphological and physicochemical characteristics the genotype Jawaharber 12 was observed morphologically best genotype. Genotype Jawaharber 20 was observed to be best for physicochemical characteristics under Kymore Plateau and Satpura Hill conditions. By observing the overall performance, it is cocluded that the above genotypes can be utilized for further varietal improvement programme in ber.